WASHINGTON — Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, talked about a 2020 report on Wednesday that was in line with President Donald Trump accusing former President Barack Obama of treason.
The 1,000-page congressional committee’s report discrediting an investigation into the Trump campaign’s interactions with Russian intelligence services during the 2016 election was released on Friday.
Gabbard said evidence points to Obama “leading the manufacturing” of the intelligence assessment on Russia’s interference.
“I’m leaving the criminal charges to the DOJ,” Gabbard said during the White House news conference.
Democrats accused Trump of trying to distract the public from the Jeffrey Epstein files and said that by targeting Trump’s political enemies, Gabbard was trying to gain favor with the president after she contradicted him on Iran.
“The only people who are suggesting that the director of national intelligence would release evidence to try to boost her standing with the president are the people in this room who constantly try to sow distrust and chaos,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, told reporters.
The White House also discredited a Wall Street Journal report that Attorney General Pam Bondi had warned Trump that his name appeared in the Epstein files.
Also on Wednesday, Trump used Truth Social to announce that the new 15% U.S. tariffs on Japan were part of a deal that included Japan’s $550 billion investment in U.S. autos and rice.
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